Vancouver Referencing Guide: Introduction

Websites and Webpages - Introduction

The Internet provides vast amounts of information and students are increasingly relying on the Internet for information to support assignment work..

It is very important to remember that unlike text books and journals, web sites can be set up by almost anyone and for different reasons.  The 'information' contained on many websites is unregulated and there is no guarantee of authenticity or accuracy.

If you do intend to use information from general websites,  then it will be your responsibility to evaluate the website to help ensure that the information is reliable.

To help to achieve this you will need to ask yourself questions such as:

• What is the purpose of the website? For example, is it trying to sell a product?
• Does the name of the author/creator appear on the webpage?
• Is the author/creator attempting to state facts or give a personal opinion?
• Is the author/creator suitably qualified/experienced to write on the topic? 
• Is there contact information such as an email address?
• Is there a link to the homepage of a reputable organisation?
• Does the organisation appear to support the views of the web page author/creator?
• Does the URL of the web page reveal anything, such as the origin of the information?

Do remember to collect all of the information that you need to reference the web page at the time you access the web page. Websites and web pages can change - it may not be possible to access the information at a later date.